I have always done anaerobic exercise my whole life...Until this year.
I was a gymnast, almost from birth.
I once took a friend, who was also a gymnast, out for a short run.
Midway through the run, I could hear him huffing and puffing. He managed to call out to me, "there is a reason I picked gymnastics, as my sport of choice and not running..."
It's true. Gymnasts are taught to be fast for very short periods of time. We put all of our energy into skills or routines that last between 2 seconds and 2 minutes...Not 45 minutes to 2 hours...
Today was chaos.
Beginning with volunteering at my church as a barista & to staying for my service.
Plus, removing gluten, sugar, caffeine and most dairy from my diet has been difficult because I get hungry every few hours, so the egg and apple I had for breakfast at 8am did nothing for me by noon. I had to drive all the way home (stopping for gas on the way) to go make a big lunch before heading out to Darlene's place for a work out-my 7th day in a row! I was somehow supposed to prepare a meal, change and take care of the cats all before 1:30. It was already 12:55 by the time I had made my way to my house.
45 minutes later I had made it back out.
The temperature on my car thermometer read: 61 degrees.
I was surprised at how warm it was but was quickly thinking about other things.
I arrived at Darlene's house and played with her animals as she finished some work.
Then she asked me what I wanted to do that day.
"We could do an insanity DVD or we could go out for a run."
I had been pestering her about doing one for the past couple of months but simultanously, I think I was dreading it. So it shouldn't have surprised me that I picked running over the dvd but what was I thinking?!
A few quick facts about Darlene before I continue.
She is a hardcore trail runner.
One of the fastest runners of her age group, at least in the town I live in.
She's 30+ years older than me.
She's taller than me.
Her competitor is ironman triathlete/marathoner-Kate.
And I had never seen nor joined either of these women for a run.
So when I stepped out into the comfortable temperature and began ascending the trail, I knew I was in trouble. I knew I was in trouble within the first 30 seconds.
Maybe it was because I never begin running with running, I always begin with a walking warm up.
Maybe it was from the drastic change of diet over the past few days.
Maybe it was from working out HARD all week long prior to today.
Or maybe it was just because I DON'T RUN!
Not that I dislike it, even if I do dislike it, I wont admit to disliking it.
I hadn't been running much for the past 6 months though.
Most of my cardio came from aerobic classes, cycling/spinning or crossfit-NOT RUNNING.
Darlene already knew where she was going. She'd obviously been running these trails for a long time and had a route planned out. The information she gave me was that it was shorter, but harder. Shorter equaled good. Harder was Bad...
I was already huffing and puffing on leveled ground.
We were running up and down little hills that felt like hell to my butt and my heart. I was breathing hard...
Meanwhile, I was trying to take in the view around me but failing miserably due to the fact that one mis-step may lead to tripping over a rock and killing myself. Plus, I had to put a lot of energy to just keeping up with Darlene.
As we began descending, I struggled even more to keep up with her. Darlene pranced like a deer back and forth between the rocks. Avoiding them easily and seeming to sped up everytime more effort was taken to avoiding the terrain.
I couldn't believe how fast she was and I don't think she was going at her top speed either.
I also avoided conversation, I can't talk when I run. She, like other runners I'd met, was able to have light conversation as we ran. My replies were short, one-worded answers.
We finally arrived to the bottom where she pointed out a tree and informed me, "this is the stretching tree."
Thank you GOD!!!!
The rest was much appreciated and much needed! But it didn't last long...
"Now we go back the same way, which is going to be a lot harder since most of it is uphill." She informed me airily.
No comment was or is necessary.
It was just as awful going back as it had been coming down. I guess that was what was expected, but I was hoping that my body might've gotten over the shock. It's been known to do that, to finally just become numb or eventually stop feeling the initial shock. Unfortuantly, that was not the case today. Instead I simply could hear myself sucking breath in and 0ut like a fat person!
I wanted desperately to stop and walk. If I had been by myself I would've done that long ago! Darlene pushed me on! I couldn't let her see me slow down.
She managed to glance back at me and instead she stopped. I was again thankful for the rest break. She, in turn took my arms and told me to keep them in since apparently they were flopping around like a rag doll. She grabbed my hands, telling me to keep my fists unclenched and my shoulders relaxed. Then just as quickly she was bounding away, up the hill. I followed at an even pace as she sprinted up. She finally slowed down at the top and together we walked the last 3 or so minutes to the car.
And in that short period of time, who would show up but the one and only, Kate.
I saw her jogging toward us but wasn't sure if it was really her.
"That looks like..." I let my statement drift off since I couldn't believe Darlene's competition could be heading toward us... And I mean, I really didn't believe it was her...Until she was a few feet away.
I keep seeing her.
It's a small world.
We ran approximately 4 miles and I seriously almost died.
That's what I get for willingly heading out to run with the fastest runner in this city.
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